The lower Lake Michigan airshed is in severe “non-attainment” for ozone and seriously out of compliance for particulate matter pollution -- the kind of pollution that gets deeply into the lungs and can even pass into the bloodstream, with devastating consequences in the form of heart failure and asthma.

We were already especially concerned about increases in volatile organic compound releases as a result of the proposed expansion, including benzene, which contribute to the extreme, unhealthy ozone levels in the lower Lake Michigan airshed.

Smog is further favored by stable meteorological conditions, when the urban emissions are held in an urban airshed by the atmospheric inversion layer, acting like a lid over a reaction vessel, and thus preventing dispersion.